Pull Apart Strawberry Shortcake Cake

With Fourth of July just around the corner, I’m dreaming up tons of delicious summer desserts. My favorite thing to dream up are new takes on classic recipes. Like this one — a Giant Pull Apart Strawberry Shortcake Cake.

Strawberry Shortcake is fun and all, but why have just the shortcake, when you can have a Strawberry Shortcake Cake?

Presentation 10/10
Messiness 9/10
Deliciousness 10/10

Yes, it’s messy, but that’s part of the fun in it. If anything, it makes it taste even better. One thing I love about this strawberry shortcake cake is how easy it is to make ahead of time. You can make your strawberries and biscuits the night before, then on the day of simply whip your cream and assemble. Easy as pie! Erhm, I mean shortcake!

How to make strawberry shortcake cake

This strawberry shortcake cake does take a little time to assemble, but the individual parts of this cake are quite easy to make. And if you’re planning on serving strawberry shortcake for a crowd, this is a much simpler alternative to make individual shortcakes and handing those out. To make this strawberry shortcake cake, you need to:

Cook the strawberries — Combine fresh strawberries, orange zest, and sugar in a large pot and cook over low heat until the strawberries soften and release their juices. Set them aside while you make the shortcakes and let them cool completely.

Make the shortcake biscuits — If you’ve never made homemade biscuits before, don’t fret. These shortcake biscuits can be made in around 15 minutes. Just whisk together the dry ingredients, then cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or a fork. You basically just keep pressing the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Then, stir in the buttermilk until everything is just combined. Once the dough’s finished, you can roll it out and cut the biscuits using a biscuit cutter.

Assemble the shortcake cake — Once the shortcakes are baked and the strawberries have cooled, you can whip up the cream and assemble the cake. Get a large platter of some kind and just start stacking the biscuits on top of each other. Make sure to dollop a healthy dose of whipped cream and strawberries between each layer to help everything stay together.

Tips on making this shortcake cake

Use in-season strawberries — Personally, I don’t recommend using frozen or out of season strawberries for this recipe. In-season berries will give you the best flavor, and they won’t need much sugar to sweeten them.

Use cold butter — When making the biscuit dough, the butter should be fridge cold. If the butter is too warm, it won’t mix with the dry ingredients well and your biscuits will be flat.

Chill the biscuits — Once you’ve rolled and cut the biscuits, you need to freeze them for a few minutes before baking them. This will give the butter time to become firm again and the dough will relax some.

Let the biscuits and berries cool completely before assembling — Do NOT try and assemble this strawberry shortcake cake while the biscuits and strawberries are still warm. If you do that, the whipped cream will run all over the place and your cake will be a mess.

How to serve and store strawberry shortcake cake

I recommend assembling this cake just before you plan on serving it. This way, the biscuits won’t have time to get soggy under the layers of whipped cream and berries. To make serving this cake easier, serve the biscuits from the top layer first and work your way down. There’s no good way to cut this cake, so it’s best to just serve individual biscuits.

As for storing leftovers, in all honesty they don’t keep very well (not that you shouldn’t save what’s left!). If the biscuits are stored with the berries and whipped cream, they tend to get soggy in the fridge.

Alright friends. Short and sweet post today. Loves you!!

• Author: Sarah | Broma Bakery
• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: 10

Giant Pull Apart Strawberry Shortcake

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A Giant Pull Apart Strawberry Shortcake Cake perfect for a crowd at your next Fourth of July celebration or backyard barbecue!

• Author: Sarah | Broma Bakery
• Prep Time: 1 hour
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: 10

Units: USM

Ingredients

For the strawberries:

• 2 quarts fresh strawberries, stems removed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• zest of 1/2 orange

For the biscuits:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons salted butter, cold
• 1 cup buttermilk

For the whipped cream:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Cook your strawberries

In a large pot, combine your strawberries, sugar, and orange zest. Cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes, until tender and juicy. Allow to cool completely while you make your biscuits.

Make your biscuits

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Work the butter in using a pastry cutter until it becomes the size of small peas. Stir in the buttermilk until everything begins to comes together, but do not over mix.

Place the dough onto a well-floured surface and pat it into a rectangle that is ¾” thick. Cut the biscuits with a round 2″ cutter, dipping it into flour between each cut to reduce sticking. Re-roll the scraps and pat the dough until it’s ¾” thick and repeat the cutting process. Repeat a until little to no dough remains.

Place the biscuits on two to three silpat-lined baking sheets, leaving an inch between each biscuit. Place into the freezer for 15 minutes.

While freezing, preheat the oven to 425°F.

Once chilled, bake the biscuits for 15 minutes, until they’re light golden brown. Allow to cool completely before assembling your shortcake.

Assemble the shortcake

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. 

Layer biscuits, whipped cream, and roasted strawberries on a large serving tray. It will be messy, but this is part of the fun in it! Optionally top with edible budding flowers 🙂

More strawberry desserts from Broma Bakery:

Strawberry Almond Birthday Cake

Strawberry Rhubarb Bakewell Tart

Strawberry Nutella Pop-Tarts

Strawberry Almond Cake

Strawberry Nutella French Toast